Off Centre/ On Stage

This fascinating book was published in conjunction with an exhibition at Jameel Arts Centre from September 29, 2021 to March 21, 2022 that reveals and illuminates archival images of Dubai taken between 1976 and 1979. The photographers, Stephen Finch and Mark Harris, did not intend to make pictures for commercial, documentary, or artistic purposes, but rather record visual notes of urban life in order to create designs for the city’s future.

Conceived and written by Todd Reisz, the pre-eminent writer of the UAE’s urban transformations, and a long time Art Jameel interlocutor, this book is a collaboration between Jameel Arts Centre and Khatt Books, designed by Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès. Todd has arranged nearly one hundred images into a meditative wandering across Dubai, through time, as the city stretched beyond the Dubai Creek.

Off Centre/ On Stage offers an intriguing account of Dubai on the cusp of monumental change, an insignificant patch of empty sand, driven by human invention to become the exceptional nexus of architecture we know today.

About Jameel Arts Centre

Jameel Arts Centre is an independent institution dedicated to exhibiting contemporary art to the public and engaging communities through learning, research and commissions. Founded and supported by Art Jameel, the Centre is located in Jaddaf Waterfront, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

About the Author

Todd Reisz is an architect and writer living in Amsterdam. His work examines the global practice of architecture, specifically how the architect circulates technologies and cultural narratives. His work has been featured in The Guardian, Architectural Design, and Artforum. He has taught architectural and urban design at Yale University and Harvard University.

About the Publisher

Khatt Books is a specialized publishing house, established in 2010 as a commercial arm of the Khatt Foundation. Khatt Books focuses on topics such as typography, graphic design, architecture, other applied and visual arts from or dealing with the MENA region.

Art Jameel is an organisation that supports artists and creative communities. Our arts programmes foster the role of the arts in building open, connected communities; at a time of flux and dramatic societal shifts, we see this role as more crucial than ever.